While it's generally accepted that journalists and camera operators who are deployed to the scene or deal directly with victims can be affected, indirect exposure to trauma via graphic vision or upsetting material may also have an impact on the mental health of staff back in the newsroom.

After several months of cutting a series of distressing stories, she noticed she was becoming deeply affected by the stories she edited and was having trouble switching off at the end of the day.

"I would think about the story constantly, I was having trouble sleeping, I would dream about it. I have a really nice life, but I felt like there was no good in the world, I could only see negative things," she said.

"A couple of times after editing stories about child abuse, I went home and would look at my sleeping three-year-old daughter and imagine what it would be like if something happened to her, what if a man was touching her.

"When I was editing a story, I would feel it consume my body.

"I'd feel nervous and anxious cutting [footage] or I would cry with the people in the story. I was no longer watching as an outsider, I was taking it in and thinking: 'What if I was there?'

"I was no longer telling a story, I was part of it."

Lampard decided to seek professional help after editing a 7.30 story about bicycle safety, following the death of Italian cyclist Alberto Paulon, who was run over by a truck in inner Melbourne when he was knocked off his bike by a parked motorist opening their car door.

CCTV footage of the accident was too graphic to put to air, and Lampard had been warned by a thoughtful colleague not to watch it, but she had to select images showing the lead-up to the accident and the story featured an interview with the dead man's grieving fiance, Cristina Canedda.

"After watching the interview a few times and listening to his fiance crying while telling the story of what happened, I was imagining myself in her scenario," she said.

"Normally, I can remain empathetic, but also detached to get the story done, but I was imagining that was my husband in front of me, dying in front of me.

"I knew then I was taking way too much on board and needed to get perspective back on how to separate from the stories I was cutting."

Working in Melbourne's News Exchange, Emma Williams spends her day monitoring a bank of television screens showing a variety of different news feeds.

It's her responsibility to send out locally shot news footage and record vision coming in from all over Australia and overseas. Over a decade in the job, she's seen some shocking images.

"When [then Pakistani president] Benazir Bhutto's car blew up in 2007, I was recording the raw feeds coming in for Australia Network," she said.

"I was watching one feed and the pictures came up really fast.

"There were shots of clouds of dust which slowly cleared and there was a man hopping through the dust.

"I couldn't understand why he was hopping and then I saw that his leg had been blown off. The look of terror on his face really stuck with me.

"We see a lot of raw vision before other news people look at it — bushfires and car crashes, international feeds are really uncensored.

"Our job is to look carefully at a feed and make sure there are no technical issues or break-up in vision and you can't really record something without watching it, so you often see some horrific images and once you've seen them, they're burned into your brain."

Emma Williams watches a bank of monitors showing feeds from around the world and across Australia.

Emma Williams watches a bank of monitors showing feeds from around the world and across Australia.

ABC Backstory: Natasha Johnson

While it was a combination of personal and professional stress that prompted Williams to also seek professional counselling earlier this year, she wants to raise awareness of how newsroom-based staff like her can be affected by so-called "second hand" exposure to trauma.

"I think it can be a really big issue for some newsroom staff," she said.

"Maybe traditionally people didn't think of us being affected and have tended to focus on journos and crews out in the field.

"Also, because it's so hectic in here, particularly in a breaking news situation, maybe people think it doesn't affect us as much.

"I think it does have an impact because we often don't get warnings about traumatic stuff coming in, the feed just pops up and you hit record.

"There's no time to prepare for the possibility of seeing something bad like a journo or crew might as they're heading to a bushfire or something like that."

'People think they are weak … it's not weakness'

While most news staff cope well, Cait McMahon, managing director of the Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma Asia Pacific, says the potential for psychological harm is being recognised by mental health experts internationally.

The latest edition of the international psychiatric disorders manual, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders published by the American Psychiatric Association, now acknowledges that someone can experience post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) from repeated exposure to distressing material via electronic means if it is part of their job.

While PTSD is at the extreme end and rare, McMahon says exposure to traumatic content, especially on a repetitive basis, can have an impact on someone's wellbeing and their ability to do their job.

"There have only been two studies on the impact of electronic exposure to traumatic content for media professionals, but both showed real effects," she said.

"The reality is, more studies need to be done and on whether primary exposure is worse than electronic exposure.

"The brain often doesn't distinguish between an image on a screen and the real thing, but then you don't get the smell, or the full gamut of exposure from seeing something on a monitor as opposed to in the field.

Whether out on the road or back in the newsroom, McMahon says staff should not feel ashamed or embarrassed if they experience mental stress and need to understand that people react differently to exposure to trauma.

One person might be upset by something that another shrugs off.

People also react differently at different times — one day they might not be affected by disturbing material which, another day, they can't bear to watch.

"People think they are weak if they break down and start crying, but it's not weakness," she said.

"If I put up a brain scan of someone who has been affected by trauma it shows a physiological impact on the brain.

"The brain has a reaction that's different to normal stress. This has affected their brain more than something else.

"Why it affects one person's brain more than someone else is to do with personality, experience, and other stressors in their lives at the time."

Avoidance of traumatic news isn't an option

Exposure to traumatic content is a necessary part of the job for many staff working in news and current affairs.

As well as journalists and crews deployed to distressing stories, newsroom-based producers, digital editors and social media account managers are often assessing vision, photos, audio and even comments which are ultimately deemed too graphic or distressing to broadcast or publish.

Avoidance isn't an option, it's about managing exposure and trying to minimise the impact.

"Managers need to rotate staff off distressing stories, but staff also need to speak up if they're struggling," McMahon said.

"You need to become trauma literate, know your own threshold and be aware of particular stories that trigger you.

"Any time it reminds you of a personal experience can affect you. The catching you unawares, the shock of 'I didn't expect to see that', is a big part of trauma, as is repetition, going over and over distressing material.

"Taking breaks is very important — just go for a walk or a coffee, that nanosecond break does make a difference.

"Looking at stuff in 20-minute chunks, or turning the sound down, switching to black-and-white can also help.

"It's important, particularly in a breaking news situation, that once the event is over, or you've knocked off work, to separate from it. Don't keep watching the news or get on the computer and trawl through more horror.

"You need to disconnect and get back into normal activities, reconnecting with people you love, having fun, laughing."

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